A Class Act

Dave Edson
3/17/2009

On February 17, 2009 Manhattan Community Boards 1 – 5 jointly hosted a
Public Forum On: The State of Small To Mid-Sized Theaters- Developing
Strategies in this time of Crisis and Opportunity at the Players Club.
Hundreds of theater lovers crammed into the Gramercy facility to
discuss fresh ideas for small to mid-sized theaters in the current
economic crisis.

Hmmm…sounded really interesting, actually. I’ve
got to admit: I had a swirling of thoughts in my head about what the
evening would look like. I mean, after all, this sounded very old
fashioned to me. Not to mention the oxymoronic quality of a town
hall-sounding public forum in The Big Apple of all places. “What will
happen?” I wondered.

Will a town crier bust on the scene
wielding a bell to announce the death of small theaters in New York?
What would the memorial service be like? Or, is their still hope? Maybe
we’re just on life support. Will reincarnation be involved? Zombies?
Hobos on soapboxes? What?!

Upon arrival, one could not help but
be struck by just how beautiful The Players Club is. Gramercy is not
the first place people mention when the think of Off-Off Broadway. We
were the Little Orphan Annies stepping into Daddy Warbucks’s house for
the first time or The Fresh Prince laying eyes on Bel-Air. The building
is an historic monument to New York City and its ghosts of Edwin Booth,
Mark Twain, Eugene O’Neil, and Lauren Bacall are immortalized within
the building and its impeccable woodworking, portraits, and
architecture. And we’re supposed to discuss small theater in the
current economic crisis here? Let the oxymorons continue.

The
evening was a who’s who of artistic and administrative theater
luminaries in New York City. And with its packed house, it also had a
feeling of “Who’s that and how can we work together?”

Ben
Cameron, Program Director for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
kicked the evening off by speaking passionately about how much can
change in one year. The good news according to Mr. Cameron is that “We
are not part of the problem, we are part of the solution!” Now if only
we could afford rent.

As a starting point John Clancy, Executive
Director, League of Independent Theater, Inc. and a co-founder of The
New York International Fringe Festival so clearly pointed out, “We need
space before we need money” otherwise we are “like a football team
without a field”.

But what is our “field”? Well, that depends on who you are…

Weather
you have the technological needs of Kevin Cunningham and 3 Legged Dog
or you have the experience and flexibility of the self proclaimed
“senior crisis person in the room”, Founding Director of the Living
Theater, Judith Malina, we are all at a disadvantage in the current
economic crisis and everyone agreed to work together. Now was not the
time to choose one kind of theater over another. Nor was there any talk
about how to improve our art. That would be a different forum.

It
became apparent as the evening went on that it is ironically the
Off-Off Broadway community who is fairing the best, as pointed out by
Virginia Louloudes, Executive Director of ART/NY. Reason: Because we
are so accustomed to struggling tooth and nail and we don’t have to
deal with the real estate woes attached to permanent rehearsal and
performance spaces. Yay?

The grass is not necessarily greener
elsewhere either according to Paul Nagle, Director of Cultural Affairs
for Council Member Alan Gerson. Italy just cut $1.3 billion in arts
funding and even our friends from Canada had millions slashed and were
called “grant seeker whiners” from their powers that be! Although times
are tough, everyone agreed that New York City is still a generous place
and that we should all keep on truckin’.

Ultimately, what were
we to get from this evening? Well, Borough President of Manhattan,
Scott Stringer told us “I don’t sing and dance”, so he asked the
artists of New York very bluntly to “Give us (city leaders) a roadmap
to the product you expect” and to hold them to a “new, higher
standard.” Stringer also simply reminded us, “Theater is good for
business.”

Business first, art second is difficult for many of
us, but there are simple ideas. Tamara Greenfield, Executive Director,
FAB Arts District pointed out that low ticket prices keep houses full
and to consider alternative performances spaces such as public pools
which are unused eight months out of the year.

There will be tax
incentives for commercial spaces to rent to non-profit theaters coming
soon. Grants are depleted? Find alternative ways of fundraising like
teaching classes. Can’t find space? Go site specific. No more local
resources? Open up to an international scale. The crisis is also not
solely financial as Cameron called for a “redefinition of culture.”
Most agreed that theater will not look the same in five years time.

Anthony
Borelli, Director of Land Use, Manhattan Borough President’s Office
pointed out that when a community spoke up, East Harlem’s P.S. 109 was
turned into affordable housing for artists and a potential food court
in Battery Park was transformed into a free art exhibit space. Change
can and does happen.

And what does it take? A surprisingly small
number of people, says Borelli so long as the message is clear and
unified. Find your Community Board online by searching for CB1, CB2,
etc. and click on the calendar of events.

The evening at the
Player’s Club was just a jumping off point. We won’t feel the full
extent of the economy for another year in some aspects with budgets
being on a delayed 12-36 month calendar.

Tough stuff, but who
better than the OOB artist, who is all too familiar with challenges
both in their lives and in the rehearsal room to understand, whenever
there us crisis, there is opportunity?